206 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



while numerous birds breed here, including pelicans, 

 gulls, and petrels. 



The islands abound in cacti, the dreaded choya, and 

 others. Formerly a few otter-hunters frequented the 

 rocks for the skins they secured. The Japanese and 

 Chinese have robbed the cliffs of tons of abalones (the 

 Ealiotis of science), the beautiful shells being sold by 

 the ton and sent to Germany, where they are made 

 into jewelry and curios and sent back to this country. 



One cannot visit some of the Channel Islands, as 

 San Nicolas and San Miguel, without being impressed 

 by the fact that they are being blown into the sea, 

 but whether this is true cannot be absolutely deter- 

 mined. Off to the west of the Coronados, nearer San 

 Clemente, are two banks named after Cortez and Cap- 

 tain Tanner, U. S. N., which have aroused much specu- 

 lation as "lost islands." Many a romance has been 

 written with these banks as the foundation. Here 

 it is supposed once stood a Pacific Atlantis. It is 

 imfortunate to have to destroy so alluring a tale, but 

 the stories of cities and ruins seen down through the 

 clear waters are pure fiction. The only population of 

 the bank is a remarkable variety of fishes, winter and 

 summer; indeed the Atlantis of Cortez and the Bank 

 of Tanner doubtless are the winter homes of many of 

 the summer fishes of the inshore islands. 



Tanner Bank, called the "lost island," covers an 

 area of about fifteen miles in a west-northwest and 

 south-southeasterly direction, and is about four miles 

 wide. Its shallowest portion comes to within about one 

 hundred and sixty feet of the surface and there is deep 

 water all about it equalling two-thirds of a mile in 

 some places, showing that here is a virtual mountain 



